Your Complete Guide to Facebook Video Ad Formats

Video is one of the most engaging ways to connect with your audience in today’s digital world.

Human beings are highly visual creatures. That means that we often consider video to be more memorable, more emotional, and more effective than any other kind of content on the market. Even Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg said that he believes video is crucial to our society’s future. Perhaps that’s why video ads are becoming such a fundamental part of the Facebook marketing environment.

Facebook video ads are a fantastic way to show off your company’s personality and connect with your audience on an emotional level. Used correctly, your video content can share useful information about your business and improve you’re your reputation online.

So, how do you use Facebook video ads?

Why Choose Facebook Video Ads?

Before we give you an overview of the various video ad types available on Facebook, let’s take a look at why you should consider this marketing method to begin with.

First and foremost, Facebook advertising makes it easy to find and reach a specific audience online, with targeted audiences that cater to your specific niche. Additionally, Facebook’s recently enhanced video creation kit means that everyone can have a much easier time creating video content.

Research from Adespresso found that Facebook users are currently watching 3 billion hours of video every day – which includes a heck of a lot of advertising from major brands. It’s no surprise, with that in mind, that Facebook videos have an 86% higher reach than the same kind of content on YouTube. Hubspot also discovered that 54% of people say that they want to see more video from the brands that they support, and those people are also 85% more likely to purchase a product after seeing a video about it.

Another great thing about video? When people share it on a social network like Facebook, it improves word of mouth marketing by 1200% – driving a staggering amount of organic traffic.

Let’s look at your options now, shall we?

Facebook Video Ad Formats

There are various different ad options available on Facebook today, including images, carousels, instant experiences, collections, slideshows, and more.

Video is just one of the most common options. Here are some of the ads you can create using Facebook video:

Gifs and short videos

Vertical videos

Carousels

Collections

In-stream videos

Instagram stories (Remember, Instagram is part of Facebook now!)

Facebook Gif and Short Video Ads

Cisco believes that online video will make up 82% of all consumer traffic on the internet by 2022. A good portion of that traffic will be attributed to shorter, consumable bite-sized videos, like gifs.

On Facebook, Gifs are available to access as ads on your Instagram, Facebook, and Audience networks. They play and loop similarly to a standard video, although they’re often a lot smaller in size. You can use Gifs by simply posting or uploading a Gif directly to your Facebook page, then clicking on the blue promote button to see more options for “boosting” your post. Alternatively, users can also upload Gifs in their Ad Manager account, by choosing any objective that supports video, and uploading their .gif file as they would a video.

Facebook recommends using GIPHY.com to download a gif if you don’t have your own. This will give you access to dozens of high-quality animations.

When to use a Gif Ad: Gifs are great when you want to show off your personality and capture your audience’s attention without giving them too much information at once. They’re affordable, easy to create, and great for sharing.

Facebook Vertical Video Ads

Although horizontal video is still common online, studies show that 90% of the videos watched vertically have a higher completion rate for brands. As more consumers continue to consume video content from their smartphone screens, vertical video is one of the easiest ways to capture and retain your customer’s attention.

Vertical videos are available to create in the “Creative Hub” section of your Facebook Ad Manager. Here, you can upload videos that you’ve already designed in a vertical format to suit your target audience, or you can capture video using your smartphone. Most smartphones come with cameras that are already attuned to the vertical ratios required for Facebook and Instagram advertising.

Brands like National Geographic frequently use vertical video to capture the attention of their audience. Remember, as with all video options; it’s essential to make sure that your content is high quality if you want to have the right impression on your customers.

When to use vertical video ads: Stick to vertical video when you want to reach your audience on their smartphones and give them an organic, natural experience. You can also use vertical video successfully with Instagram.

Facebook Carousel Video Ads

Carousel ads on Facebook are available for the Facebook newsfeed, Audience network, and Messenger campaigns, as well as Instagram. For companies that need to provide their audience with plenty of information at once, the carousel format ensures that you can showcase up to ten videos in a single ad – all equipped with their own links and promotions.

Through the carousel ad format, you can easily highlight a range of different promotions at once, showcasing multiple product landing pages, telling stories about your solutions, or even explaining a crucial process. If you’re feeling particularly creative, you can also use carousel ads to create a larger canvas by combining all your frames into one greater experience.

When to use Facebook Carousel Ads: Carousel video ads are excellent for when you want to connect with your audience through an engaging and interactive experience. They can scroll through your content and see a story come to life in real-time.

Facebook Video Collections

When to use Facebook Collections: Collections are significant when you need to share a lot of connected information at once. They’re perfect for retail, travel, and dining experiences when you want your customer to imagine what it’s like to use your tools, services, or products. mportant message that you have to share, an in-stream video can get you in front of a lot of eyes fast- just make sure that you’re not irritating your audience by posting content that’s too long.

Instagram Stories through Facebook Ad Manager

Although some people believe that Instagram Stories shouldn’t be mentioned as part of the Facebook video advertising portfolio – it’s hard to ignore their impact. Although this is technically a feature for Instagram, not Facebook, it’s one of the fastest-growing formats in the world today – perfect for capturing your audience’s attention in the visual environment. There are more than 500 million people browsing through Instagram stories every day, which means that your chances of attracting the right customer are huge!

If you’re struggling with Instagram Stories, or you’re new to the platform, Facebook even offers a quick course on how you can buy and launch

When to use Instagram Stories: If you’re looking for an immersive, affordable, and easy way to capture your audience’s attention in an interactive environment, Stories is a great choice.

your ads easily here. Stories can run for as long as you want and be optimized to suit your specific business objective. To create them all you need to do is go to the Ads manager and use guided creation or “quick creation” to design your ad. From there, you can select between reach, brand awareness, video views, conversions, app installs, and traffic for your objective.

The more comfortable you feel with Instagram Stories, the more you may decide to explore things like Boomerang videos, live video via Instagram, and more. This will give you another platform where you can experiment with video content.

Facebook Video Advertising Specs

Crucially, when it comes to video advertising on Facebook, there are specific rules that you’ll need to follow to make sure that all of your promotions look incredible. To give you some extra guidance, we’ve put together a quick list of all the specs, aspect ratios, and sizes you need to know. Make sure you bookmark this page so you can come back to it when you’re creating your video ad content.

Quick Tips for Facebook Video Ads

If you’re just getting started with Facebook video and you’re not sure where to go from here, the following tips will help you to get started. Remember, the more time you spend experimenting with video, the more comfortable you’ll feel – so don’t be afraid to have some fun:

Front-load your videos with the most important information first, so you still get your message across, even if your audience clicks outs.

Be specific with each ad: Don’t include too much information in any video or you might overwhelm your audience.

Make your videos personal and emotional; this will make them more clickable, and improve your chances of shares.

Tell a compelling story: Capture your audience’s attention quickly and show off the personality of your brand and team with unique content.

Include sound, but don’t’ rely on it: Although it’s a good idea to include sound with your video, captions are also a good option, as 85% of videos are played without sound.

Use in-stream ads to boost your impressions: Make sure that you take advantage of in-stream ads when you want to get more people to your Facebook profile and website. Automatic placement will ensure that your ads always run based on your objective and creative requirements.

There you have it! Your quick and comprehensive guide to Facebook video ads. Have we missed anything? Let us know in the comments below!